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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

LENA BLOCH - FEATHERY

The
acclaimed tenor saxophonist Lena Bloch, a Russian émigré who currently resides
in Brooklyn, grounds her music in the fertile soil of the present, while
honoring significant, left-of-center innovations of jazz past. Committed to the
essentials of swing, post-bop exploration and collective improvisation, as well
as an avid interest in the still-visionary music of cool-school titans, Lennie
Tristano, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, Bloch has created a distinctive
instrumental and group approach that sets her apart from her peers.

Her
debut album Feathery, to be released March 18, 2014 on Thirteenth Note Records,
is a fitting testimony to Bloch's brisk musical evolution and her commitment to
productive freedom. Although contributing players Cameron Brown on bass, Billy
Mintz on drums and Dave Miller on guitar were not a working unit, under Bloch's
supportive direction they melded indivisibly as a resourceful and consistently
inspiring ensemble. Each member of the quartet contributed at least one piece
to the album. In addition, the group recorded rarely performed pieces by two of
the foremost of Lennie Tristano's acolytes: "Marshmallow" by Warne
Marsh and "Featherbed" by Ted Brown. Lena's own "Hi Lee" is
a tribute to her own mentor from the Tristano camp, Lee Konitz.

Veteran
bassist Cameron Brown, a former member of the now legendary Don Pullen-George
Adams Quartet and a current associate of Joe Lovano, brings his clear sonic
presence, swinging lines, and melodic inventiveness to the group. Drummer Billy
Mintz, a colleague of Brown's for over 30 years, is a master of texture and
dynamics whose orchestrations and subtle swing feel significantly contribute to
the continuity of the project's challenging material. Dave Miller, a guitarist
from Chicago currently living in New York, combines intuition and precision at
a level rarely heard among young players today.

"When
I decided to record my first album, I had in mind a recording in which the
focus would be on collective improvising, group interplay, spontaneity and unexpected
turns rather than the usual 'head - solo - head' format," Bloch has
said, "The rapport and
understanding among the four musicians was remarkable. We recorded in one day,
in one room, without headphones, the album consists almost entirely of first
takes. There were no pre-set arrangements."

The
result is a recording that reflects an effortlessness, lightness and elegance
as aptly described by the title Feathery.

Lena
Bloch was born in Moscow and studied music in Israel, Germany and the United States,
where she earned a Master's of Music degree in composition at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst. Since moving to the United States in 2003, Bloch has
been a soloist with the Vermont Jazz Big Band, the Ambassadors of Light, the
Vishnu Wood Quartet, and the Northampton Jazz Workshop. In 2008 she moved to
Brooklyn and has since performed with, among others, Dan Tepfer, Roberta Piket,
George Schuller, Frank Carlberg, Putter Smith, Mark Ferber, Sumi Tonooka, Kim
Clarke, Vishnu Wood and Vladimir Shafranov as well as several musicians
associated with the Lennie Tristano school (Ted Brown, Connie Crothers, Joe
Solomon, Bob Arthurs). Bloch has also gained significant recognition in Europe,
performing with such diverse musicians as "Embryo", Keith Copeland,
Alvin Queen, and Steve Reid.